The Importance of Team-building

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Today, work norms have changed tremendously and work has become more fluid and shared. The greater degree of uncertainty and competition compels organizations to bring together the best of brains and behaviors to create an incremental value-add for customers. This means that teamwork is fast becoming a norm, to be able to deliver to expectations. Also, the nature of teams has drastically changed, with virtual and cross-cultural teams becoming a norm. Here is why and how you should focus on building great teams.

The adage, a team is only as strong as its weakest link, was never more relevant. In an organizational context it becomes imperative that leaders select the best of people i.e. team players with the right skills, behaviors and attitudes. Increasingly, the softer competencies such as communication, collaboration and shared development are gaining a lot of importance. Moreover, all these must work together, towards a single team objective.

Here’s how you can promote team-building in your organization:

Identify individual strengths: Working in a team does not mean that everyone does everything; rather, it means that you leverage the best skills of each individual and make them contribute collectively to different elements, while working towards the end goal in sight. For this, HR and line managers must spend time to identify team members’ core competencies, and tap into these. Only then can high performing teams be built and goals exceeded.

Align personal goals with team goals: A business manager must be adept at recognizing individual talent, but merely doing that leads nowhere. An effort must be made to orient diverse team members to the common goal, and help align personal values with the organizational values. For this, every team leader must take the effort to understand his or her people not just as professionals but as living, breathing people with aspirations, frustrations and feelings.

Identify high potentials: Every team has a mix of dead wood—average performers who just get along—and the top-notch evangelists who stand for the organization through thick and thin. It is the manager’s job to identify these high potentials who can be super-engaged to excel at what they do. Provide these people the right motivation and they shall shine through, be it visibility, rewards or a simple pat on the back.

Be open to feedback: Listening to what your people have to say about you, your organization and your people and work is a rather enlightening experience, and gives you the hidden cues to improvise on performance. Ask your team members what they think about the brand and business and you will have ideas to scrutinize and implement!

Successful teams are a critical ingredient for organizational success, and top management must strive to create the right culture for teams to thrive in. This requires significant attention and investment, from installing the right collaborative tech tools, to driving the right interactions to foster a shared mindset. However, once a degree of team-orientation is set, it can pave the way for great success.